Chapter 103 Aftermath
Pulling his car onto pit road, Case did his best not to slam his steering wheel down as he took it off and removed his helmet to get out of the car. Gordon had raced him dirty, and Case was angry. Normally, he’d say it was just racing, but the jerk had just cost him a million dollars.
It wasn’t even so much about the money as it was the principle of the thing. Before this entire situation with Sarah, he and Gordo had always raced each other with respect. Now, the jerk was acting like a fool.
As Case made his way down pit road, a thousand microphones were shoved in his face. He was too angry to talk at the moment. He ignored all of the reporters shouting his name and demanding he comment. Case didn’t even look at them. He needed to see Andrea and no one else.
It wasn’t Andrea who stepped out in front of him, though. It was Sarah. With her hands on her hips, she said, “I’m so sorry that happened, Case. Are you okay?”
“You don’t look sorry at all,” he replied, wishing he could just push her aside and keep walking.
“That’s not true. I’m broken up about it. You know I’d rather have you win than Gordo any day.” She said her boyfriend’s name like she thought he was the worst person in the world. “But you know, if you want this to stop, if you want Gordon and Whiskey and everyone else who’s a fan of mine to stop trying to wreck you, then you’re going to have to give me another chance.”
“You’re kidding yourself, Sarah.” He stepped around her.
“It’s the only way!” she called after him, but Case wasn’t about to listen to her empty threats. She was attempting to con him into getting back together with her in order to save his career, and he wasn’t about to let her empty threats intimidate him.
Andrea was waiting with open arms when he got to his pit. He gave her a hug and let some of the anger wash away before he went to talk to his team. All of the guys gave him a pat on the back and congratulated him on a good race. Officially, he’d slid across the track in third place, but it didn’t really matter in a race like this.
That didn’t stop Charlie from celebrating. His interview was up on the big screen, and he was whooping and hollering about how awesome it was to do so well on a superspeedway and in such a big race. “It’s a d*mn shame Gordo Jones can’t race nobody clean any more, though,” Charlie was saying. “If the only way you can beat us is to literally beat us in the back quarter panel, then maybe it’s time to hang it up.” He shrugged and stepped away from the reporter, and they switched to victory lane where Gordon Jones’s team was spraying him with beer as he raised his fist in the hand and shouted.
Case had seen enough. He was ready to take Andrea back to his motor coach and get ready for qualifying tomorrow.
But the reporters had followed him. One from Speed TV, a guy named Brice Lawrence, tugged on his arm. “Come on, Case. We know you’re upset, but you came in third. Can we just have a few minutes?”
One of his crew members handed Case a cap and some water, and he took a drink and a deep breath. “Keep it short.”
That was all Brice needed. “Case, so close to the win there. How are you feeling now? Do you agree with Charlie Drake that Jones raced you dirty?”
“We had a good car,” Case said, his hands on his hips. “I’m proud of all the guys who work on the Smart Auto Parts Chevy. We had a chance to win there, and it didn’t happen. We’ll regroup and get back out here tomorrow, try to qualify well, and see if we can’t get the Smart Auto Parts Chevy in victory lane next week when it really counts.”
With a nod, Case headed toward Andrea, leaving the other reporters shouting his name again. He was ready to get out of there now. Tomorrow was another day, but with his beautiful girlfriend on his arm, there were still ways to salvage the night.
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